WarnerMedia is investing a lot in HBO Max as the company looks to get its foot in the door of the streaming world. While it's a long way off from catching up to Disney+ and Netflix, it's trending in the right direction, even though being a U.S.-exclusive service hinders its money-making abilities.
Recently, we heard that some sort of spinoff set in the world of Harry Potter was in the works for HBO Max, and when The Hollywood Reporter's Borys Kit pushed for details, HBO/HBO Max boss Casey Bloys chose his words carefully.
"I won't add anything to what you've already put out there," he stated. "You are correct in that there are no deals in place. I'd would go back to a more global statement on franchises: I think DC, Game of Thrones, Harry Potter — Warner Bros. has decades of important IP, Harry Potter being one of those. It's a great advantage for WarnerMedia and of course we want to use them in a way that makes either viewers, subscribers, fans happy."
NBCU controls the Harry Potter streaming rights until 2025, so if HBO Max does have something planned, it likely has be kept secret or not publicly announced until that deal reaches its end.
It was later put to Bloys that the expansion of the DC Extended Universe across television could lead to some brand confusion; some shows are set in the same world as the movies, while others all take place in the same, separate reality. That's not something the HBO Max boss is worrying too much about.
Talking about Peacemaker, he said: "It's a great example of what HBO Max can do with DC content in that we're producing at a level we haven't seen DC content on TV do thus far. It's been one of [WarnerMedia CEO] Ann Sarnoff's priorities to organize the DC world for exactly what you're talking about — to make sure that the universe is logical and makes sense."
"She talks about the flywheel: that the movies speak to the TV shows that speak to the movies - that it's all connected. There's a lot of work going on in that at DC and Warner Bros," Bloys continued. "That is very much something that Ann has made a priority and the company is doing. It's one of the things in terms of WarnerMedia today vs. Time Warner five years ago, I have regular conversations now with Toby Emmerich and Jim Lee and we talk about all things in way that never would have been discussed before. That's probably how you got a little DC over here, a little of DC over there, etc. The idea going forward is that we're talking with one voice about the DC universe. It's a really valuable world to have and we want to make sure we're using it correctly."
Could connecting these TV shows to the movies, similar to what Marvel Studios is now doing on Disney+, lead to the end of the CWVerse? The Multiverse likely means that won't happen, but it does sound like HBO Max will be the destination for stories linked to what we see in theaters.